LeBron James texted Luka Dončić on the morning of his newest teammate’s Los Angeles Lakers debut, asking if he wanted the honor of being introduced last among starters for a game against the Utah Jazz.
“Today,” Dončić responded, “if you can let me have this one.”
And with four words from Lakers announcer Lawrence Tanter — “From Slovenia, Luka Dončić” — it was officially official: The 25-year-old, five-time All-NBA first-team selection was wearing forum blue and gold.
The dream in Los Angeles is a nightmare for the Dallas Mavericks, only it is reality: Luka is a Laker. The Mavericks really did trade him for Anthony Davis, Max Christie and a single first-round draft pick in 2029.
It was a culmination of the week between the Dončić deal and his debut. During that span, what was on its face the dumbest trade in modern NBA history somehow got worse for the Mavericks with each day.
Initial news of the trade took the entire league by surprise. Players of Dončić’s caliber are who win championships in the NBA, as evidenced by last season’s appearance in the Finals, and teams do not trade those players before they have entered their prime seasons. Even the Lakers were shocked. As one person familiar with the locker room’s reaction said in the trade’s aftermath, “Stunned to say the least.”
At the introductory news conference, Lakers executive Rob Pelinka thanked Mavericks general manager Nico Harrison for trading Dončić to Los Angeles, calling it “a gift” and “a seismic event in NBA history.”
There had to be an explanation for this, everyone thought.
Only the first wave of reporting offered little to go on. Neither Dončić nor Dallas offered any indication that he would have turned down the $345 million supermax extension for which he was eligible in July.
“Absolutely not,” said Dončić. “Easy answer.”
Instead, Harrison told ESPN’s Tim MacMahon, “I believe that defense wins championships. I believe that getting an All-Defensive center and an All-NBA player with a defensive mindset gives us a better chance. We’re built to win now and in the future.” With that we thought: Maybe he believes this is a good trade.
And then Harrison spoke some more. He dealt only with Pelinka, his old friend, with whom he had reportedly shared family vacations as consiglieres to Lakers legend Kobe Bryant in the earlier 2000s. The Mavericks never created a bidding war for one of the biggest prizes ever to become available via trade.
“I’m not going to talk bad about any players. That’s not going to do us or me any good,” said Harrison. “There are levels to it. There are people who fit the culture, and there are people who add to the culture, and those are two distinct things. And I believe the people who are coming in are adding to the culture.”
Wait, were they saying Dončić was not a cultural fit in Dallas, where he was the culture? Where in his first six seasons he led the Mavs to appearances in the 2022 Western Conference finals and 2024 NBA Finals?
Indeed ESPN’s Dave McMenamin reported, “There had been significant frustration within the organization about Dončić’s lack of discipline regarding his diet and conditioning, which team sources considered a major factor in his injury issues.” He reportedly weighed almost 270 pounds in training camp, and the Mavs apparently believed it contributed to the left calf strain he suffered on Christmas.
So we are meant to believe that Dončić, a 25-year-old superstar who averaged 33.9 points, 9.8 assists and 9.2 rebounds a game en route to a title tilt last season, is more of a cultural and conditioning misfit than Davis, a 31-year-old future Hall of Famer who has missed at least 26 games in four of his last six seasons?
It came as less of a shock that Davis, after a remarkable first half, re-aggravated an existing adductor injury in his Dallas debut. He is reportedly sidelined indefinitely and at least through the All-Star break. The Mavericks (28-26), currently eighth in the West, are in real danger of missing the playoffs entirely.
And then the cherry on top of the world’s worst sundae came on Sunday, when Mavericks governor Patrick Dumont told The Dallas Morning News’ Brad Townsend, “If you look at the greats in the league, the people you and I grew up with — [Michael] Jordan, [Larry] Bird, Kobe, Shaq [O’Neal] — they worked really hard, every day, with a singular focus to win. And if you don’t have that, it doesn’t work. And if you don’t have that, you shouldn’t be part of the Dallas Mavericks.
“That’s who we want. I’m unwavering on this. The entire organization knows this. This is how I operate outside of basketball. This is the only way to be competitive and win. If you want to take a vacation, don’t do it with us.”
It was not just that the Mavericks were saying explicitly that Dončić did not fit their culture. Dumont was demonstrating a stunning lack of awareness about NBA history. Jordan gambled on golf courses between games. Bird injured a finger on his shooting hand in a bar fight during the 1985 Eastern Conference finals, telling the media, “I like to drink beer and go out and have a good time — I’m human.” Bryant had his own off-court issues. And O’Neal once said of not undergoing surgery in the offseason, “Since I suffered the injury on company time, why shouldn’t I also be able to get surgery and do recovery on company time?”
It is not a singular focus that wins championships. It is a player of Dončić’s caliber. Besides, Dončić is as competitive as any of those others, and, if you were not already aware, he does not turn 26 until Feb. 28.
What could not have been true actually was: The Mavericks believed Luka Dončić was not a fit for Dallas.
And news kept getting worse for the Mavs on Monday. A fan on the Jumbotron in the American Airlines Center mouthed to the crowd, “Fire Nico,” only to be escorted out by security soon afterward. And for the first time in his tenure, Mavericks coach Jason Kidd did not address the media after an overtime loss.
So it was that James and Dončić both threw lobs to Jaxson Hayes on the opening two possessions of their first game together on Monday, and Dončić found James on a leak-out late in the second quarter of a blowout win. Nobody in L.A. was thinking, This guy does not fit. Just the opposite. James told Dončić in the pregame festivities that he did not have to try to conform to the Lakers; they would conform to him.
“Luka, be your f***ing self,” said James. “Don’t fit in, fit the f*** out.”
James might as well have added what we were all thinking: I still cannot believe this. Luka is a Laker.
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